the indicator datum of a telecommunication set-up or a call set-up between two telecommunication terminal devices may be implemented by a ring sign or signal tone or sequence, which is transmitted to the calling telecommunication terminal device of the caller in the form of a call-connected or busy signal, and/or to the called telecommunication terminal device of the called party as a call signal.
A call sign may be transmitted in that a central or a decentralized unit of a telecommunication network involved in setting up the call, for instance, an exchange unit in the case of a fixed network, transmits a control or signaling signal to the called telecommunication terminal on a control or signaling channel, thereby triggering an acoustical signal device such as an alarm or a bell assigned to the particular telecommunications terminal called. In newer telecommunication terminal devices, including wireless telecommunication terminal devices, for instance, the signal tone or ring tone may be selected or modified with the aid of software implemented in the telecommunication terminal device, or it may also be modified individually via software to be called up from a provider.
A call-connected signal or busy signal is usually transmitted to the calling telecommunication terminal device by way of a signal tone routed to a basic channel such as a voice channel.
The European patent EP 0 813 787 B1 purportedly relates to a telephone device with a caller-specific call signal. The called telephone device includes means for generating a call-signal tone as a function of signaling information, relating to the identity of the caller, received by the telephone device called. Thus, a personalized, caller-specific ring sign is generated in the called telephone device, based on signaling information assigned to the caller. For instance, it is possible to set a specific tone at the called telephone as a function of each digit of a received call participant or subscriber number, and to produce it subsequently.
Furthermore, in the called-up telephone device, a specific tone may also be assigned to certain calling telephone numbers or to a certain group of calling telephone numbers. The call or signal sign at the called telephone device may also be indicated by displaying the name of the calling party, the name stored under a telephone number, or it is able to be indicated in the form of a voice signal.
In this case, the corresponding preselection and activation of a particular call indicator datum is tied directly to the called telephone device.
German patent reference DE 100 52 932 A1 purportedly refers to a method for selecting a call signal that signals the wish of a calling telecommunication device to be connected to a called telecommunication device, the call signal being determined by the caller calling the dialed telecommunication device. The call signal is stored in the calling telecommunication device and transmitted by this device to the dialed telecommunication device together with a data record initiating the connection set-up. To reduce the loading of the memory of the calling telecommunication device, a call signal, defined by the dialer, is stored in the dialed telecommunication device or on the server of the network provider after its transmission, so that the dialing communication device subsequently transmits to the dialed telecommunication device or the server a data record which initiates the connection set-up and includes an identification that is unambiguously assigned to the call signal as address, whereupon the call signal is activated at the selected telecommunication device or is transmitted from the server to the dialed telecommunication device.
The corresponding preselection, transmission and activation of a particular call indicator datum is in this case tied directly to the calling telephone device.
A similar method is purportedly referred to in German patent reference DE 100 23 474 A1, in which, when sending out a call, at least one recognition signal describing a recognition sign is transmitted from a call-communication device to the called communication device, and the recognition sign is output by the called communication device in response to the recognition signal.
In the two aforementioned publications, the call indicator datum in each case must be adapted to the device called up for the display.
German patent reference DE 44 16 384 C2 purportedly refers to a method for an acoustic identification of a telephone caller in which, instead of the ring signal, the caller's telephone number is reproduced in acoustically encoded form as tone sequence via the loudspeaker of the called telephone.
In this method, too, the control and conversion mechanisms are directly integrated in a terminal device.
Priority German patent application DE 102004013861.3 is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety.